The modification of a word to express different grammatical categories such as tense, mood, voice, aspect, person, number, gender and case. Example: 'ed' ending in past simple.

• A. Inflection
• B. Derivation
• C. Conjugation
• D. Prefixation

Answer: (A)

Inflection is the modification of a word to express grammatical categories such as tense, mood, voice, aspect, person, number, gender, and case. When you add an ending like -ed to a verb to signal the past tense, you’re applying an inflectional change that marks tense without creating a new word. This is different from derivation, which forms new words with related meanings or different parts of speech (for example, happy becoming happiness or teach becoming teacher). Prefixation involves adding a prefix, which typically changes meaning or creates a new word rather than merely signaling grammatical category. Conjugation refers to the broader system of changing verbs to agree with subject and tense; the specific instance of adding -ed to indicate past tense is an inflectional change within that system.